The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You by Mike Dooley Read Free Book Online Page B

supposedly evidenced by connecting more dots than others did. And the masses, threatened, humiliated, and too overwhelmed with survival, ceded their power.
    Eventually, religion began making up dots where no dots had ever existed. And from such connections men fashioned laws, rules, rituals, hierarchies, penalties, rights, and privileges, all for believers (unless they’re “bad”), and a total lockout for nonbelievers (even if they’re “good”). You either belong or you don’t. You will either be saved or you won’t. And pretty much anything done in the name of the religion is okay, including lying, dying, and killing.
    Spirituality, on the other hand, is usually more of an acknowledgment than an explanation. “In God we trust” is such a sentiment, intentionally connecting the fewest possible dots. It’s timeless, needs no illusions, and includes everyone. More, it typically places God within “humanity” (and all things for that matter) rather than apart from Him.
There’s no way home but back the way you came.
    Everyone, being of spirit, has the capacity to grasp the folly of their ways and the needless pain they’ve inflicted upon others; ultimately, doing so is an inescapable part of your passage through the jungles. Perhaps not as quick a passage as those who were violated would like, perhaps not even within the lifetime the violation took place, but there’s no escaping the reach of your own divine intelligence, power, and responsibilities, and there’s no way home but back the way you came.
    And everyone, being of spirit, of love, of God, has the ability to know in their heart of hearts that there’s no such thing as a devil or hell.
From a Dearly Departed
Dear Mom:
I’m sorry. So sorry. I thought of no one but myself. I wanted to take a stand, be a man, and show the world they were messing with the wrong person. I also wanted to hurt you and everyone who cared about me, because I felt that it was your attention and love that made me into such a coward and weakling. I blamed you, not knowing then what I know now.
When I pulled the trigger I expected the shot to be followed by silence, darkness, and, finally, peace. Instead, at first, there was total chaos. Loud sounds, buzzing, machine-like humming, and then an intense light, a swishing, everything moving, flying, and, finally, my blurry vision and jumbled mind gently giving way to warm and welcoming faces, gentle voices. I thought it was a dream or some weird altered state. I felt so much love, it made me think of you. It was so beautiful. I felt so much joy. I didn’t even know I had died; in fact, I thought to myself, OMG , I’m so glad I didn’t go through with it. But I had.
In an instant I understood so much! Things that there are not even words for. And it all made sense. It was so obvious, perfect, and precise! I knew why I had chosen to be me, how we all agreed to be the family we were. I saw our prior connections, our chosen strengths and dispositions, and, above all, how we all knew of the probable futures these choices might create. I could see we all knew the directions we might go, individually and as a family, the opportunities we might create, the challenges and joys we might face. Nothing was predetermined.
Fate has no role in any lifetime, yet it was as if all the likely outcomes were known in advance … outcomes in the sense of what feelings and emotions we’d ultimately achieve—like happiness, sadness, peace, resistance, creativity, reflection, and more—but not in how we’d get there or what would happen. That was the variable. The “hows.” For the first time in my “life” (yes, I’m still alive), I “get” infinite. I saw how every decision we make creates tangents and possibilities that will bring with them unforeseen forks in the road, and more decisions, and more tangents and possibilities.
I was then shown how else I could have dealt with my life’s pain and isolation. Perspectives I could have held,